Grumpy old men complaints.

No one has mentioned the rocket launchers for fenders on many motorboats.

Another moan of mine is owners who leave halyards tapping on the mast.

The whine of a bow thruster means watch out inexperienced helmsman moving their boat. Get ready to fend off.

A slight aside is watching a sailing school boat with a novice crew and seeing one crew member wandering round holding a fender as they come into berth. Never see this on any other boat. I would find it very difficult to do as I sail singlehanded. Good berthing practice?
 
Concerto said:
A slight aside is watching a sailing school boat with a novice crew and seeing one crew member wandering round holding a fender as they come into berth. Never see this on any other boat. I would find it very difficult to do as I sail singlehanded. Good berthing practice?
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its (a) a good way to keep someone occupied (usually on a busy boat); (b) a way to encourage people to use a fender not their hands/feet; (c) a setting where fenders might be most needed. I’ve done it in the Crinan Canal what the boat I am sharing with is more focussed on the wall that the other side!
 
Concerto said:
No one has mentioned the rocket launchers for fenders on many motorboats.

Another moan of mine is owners who leave halyards tapping on the mast.

The whine of a bow thruster means watch out inexperienced helmsman moving their boat. Get ready to fend off.

A slight aside is watching a sailing school boat with a novice crew and seeing one crew member wandering round holding a fender as they come into berth. Never see this on any other boat. I would find it very difficult to do as I sail singlehanded. Good berthing practice?
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I watch these school yachts and wince.....I see people climbing the rails and leaping from the boat to the pontoon....just dangerous stuff. And so many people trying to grab a rope just because they have nothing to do.
 
This one is a complaint that involves motor boats and yachts.....boats come in to dock and no one has prepared the lines. Sometimes they are down below....other times they are on a heap....mostly they are knotted...they are never attached to a cleat.
My lines are set up before we enter port.....the wife then gets to lasso the dock cleat (or pass to a helpful bystander)....this is based on the principle that you can often only get one shot at docking before the wind drives you away....also that if someone is kind enough to help on shore....they shouldn’t be kept waiting while the crew go search for a line....sort out which lengths....un knot them...attach one end....thread them through the railing and other obstacles....
 
Bouba said:
This one is a complaint that involves motor boats and yachts.....boats come in to dock and no one has prepared the lines. Sometimes they are down below....other times they are on a heap....mostly they are knotted...they are never attached to a cleat.
My lines are set up before we enter port.....the wife then gets to lasso the dock cleat (or pass to a helpful bystander)....this is based on the principle that you can often only get one shot at docking before the wind drives you away....also that if someone is kind enough to help on shore....they shouldn’t be kept waiting while the crew go search for a line....sort out which lengths....un knot them...attach one end....thread them through the railing and other obstacles....
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I like it when the line is then thrown to the person shoreside & the 2 parties then try a tug of war with neither party thinking of making at least one end fast so the other has something solid to pull against. Preferably with their end looped under a cleat horn. Meanwhile the wind & tide drag the boat further from the pontoon
 
Daydream believer said:
I like it when the line is then thrown to the person shoreside & the 2 parties then try a tug of war with neither party thinking of making at least one end fast so the other has something solid to pull against. Preferably with their end looped under a cleat horn. Meanwhile the wind & tide drag the boat further from the pontoon
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Exactly (but I never blame the person ashore because they are just a helpful stranger….I tell a lie…there was this one guy….some English barsteward who thought he should be the only one on water….what a €¥#? he was)
 
People I'm the med. who don't know what to do with a midship line.

We use one any time we tie up alongside with wind blowing us off. Step off, pull tight, tie off, leave in gear and put helm over. Then sort out other lines.

In the med. you will find someone taking it from you and either running to bow or stern, paying it out and then trying to pull it. Suddenly becomes a problem to keep parallel, stop and not get blown off. Absolutely guaranteed they will never ever just wrap it around the bollard at their feet.

My wife doesn't like to refuse a helping hand as it's impolite. She now takes the excess bow line back and dangles the end over the safety line. That decoy line is handled to helpers and I throw another from the stern. We then pretty much ignore these while my wife ties the short midship one.
 
What is my other bugbear…oh yeah….people who come on the internet and complain all the time
 
Boat owners who don’t thank me when I take their lines, especially when I have saved their boat from disaster by actually knowing what to do with the line.
 
johnalison said:
Boat owners who don’t thank me when I take their lines, especially when I have saved their boat from disaster by actually knowing what to do with the line.
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You are not that English guy who took my line on the Canal du Midi...and proceeded to give me unwanted ‘advice’ and ‘critique’ ?
 
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